Hey there red state voters, have you heard about what we’re doing in California??

Californians voted by a wide margin last month to pass a landmark $3 billion initiative to fund stem-cell research. That may have been the easy part.

Now, a state agency must be created from scratch to decide who gets the money from Proposition 71 and who will benefit financially from any scientific breakthroughs produced from the huge, taxpayer-funded gift.

Scientists and bureaucrats gathered Tuesday for a second day to begin hashing out the issues at a forum sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites) at the University of California, Irvine. But political wrangling has already begun, over matters such as who will lead the state agency and how best to ensure that the state gets its fair share of any financial windfall.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, introduced legislation Monday “reform” the proposition.

Her proposed law would require drugs developed with state money be made affordable for the poor and would guarantee that California share in any profits realized by companies that benefit from the publicly supported research.

“As funders of this research, the people of California not only deserve, but are entitled to, appropriate royalties from their investment,” Ortiz wrote in a letter to the organizer of the Irvine meeting.

And speaking of this investment, guess who isn’t entitled to royalties on the investment??? That’s right, those of you who voted against stem cell research because of some made-up “moral concerns”.

In short, these stem cells are ours. The people of California, who believe enough in this technology to go even further into debt, are the ones who are willing to take the risks here while the rest of you are still pondering whether sperm should be allowed to vote. At some point in the future, our taxes will go up or our social services will be cut to pay for this. And it’s all because you were so goddamned arrogant, selfish, and ignorant that you strong-armed the President into conceding to your religious belief that an embryo in a freezer at a fertility clinic is a human being.

Needless to say, if the possibilities of stem cells live up to their promise and are able to cure an assortment of diseases, we’ll make sure you’re reminded of those ethical boundaries you set up for yourselves. We wouldn’t want you guys to inadvertently be responsible for “killing babies” or “playing God” by receiving the medical treatment you fought so hard to stop. And if you do have a miraculous change of heart, perhaps your stem cell treatment can be accompanied by a tattoo on your forehead that says “WARNING : My religious beliefs have clouded my judgment on scientific and ethical matters. Do not listen to me. Ever.”